Between Good and Evil
by Misha
Summary: A trilogy of stories. Alternate timeline. The story of Cole's fall from grace and possible return to the road of redemption.
1. One Moment In Time

One Moment In Time   
By Misha

Disclaimer- The characters of Charmed belong to Aaron Spelling and The WB, I don't own them, but nor am I making any money off using them in this story, so please don't sue!

Author's Notes- Okay, this is pretty angsty, and kind of creepy. It's from Cole's PoV and is set sometime after The Good, The Bad, and the Cursed. I'm a big Phoebe/Cole fan, so this is slanted that way, but I'm warning you right now this is **not** a happy fic. This explores that darker demon side of Cole as well as the softer human side. That's all, enjoy.

* * *

Everyone, may they be mortal, demon, witch, whatever, has one special moment in time, a time in their life which always stays perfect and untouched by the years in their memories.

For me it's a time long ago, when for a brief time I knew love.

Yes, even I, Belthazor, knew love. I wasn't supposed to and I didn't certainly plan on it, but it happened anyway.

It started when the Triad called upon me to kill the Charmed Ones, for they knew that if I couldn't do it, then no one could. I took the job willingly, anticipating the glory. To be the one to kill those sisters three... Well, I'd be a legend among demons, I'd be the most famous and powerful demon who ever lived.

I knew I could do it, after all I was already well on my way to being a legend. I studied the sisters and came up with a plan to kill them.

First, I knew I'd need to get close to them , so I used my buried human side to create a human persona, Cole Turner, the Assistant District Attorney. Cole was smart, handsome, and charming, the perfect cover.

As Cole, I came into contact with the Charmed Ones, and quickly identified the weak link, the youngest sister, Phoebe. My plan was soon set into motion. It was simple: become involved with Phoebe, get her to trust me, and then use that trust against her to kill her and her sisters.

I intended to do it, until the moment came. It was perfect, she and her sisters were powerless, the bond between them was broken, and Phoebe had come crying to me. I could have killed her then, maybe I should have. But I didn't, I couldn't.

It was that moment, I realised that my plan had hit one major snag: I had fallen in love with Phoebe Halliwell. So, I sent her home to her sisters, to work out the issue between them and to repair their bond.

I knew that by doing that, I has just said goodbye to me only chance at killing them, but I couldn't help it, I couldn't let her die. I couldn't betray her like that.

So, instead, I betrayed my kind, I even killed the Triad. To this day, I still don't know if I did it for myself, or for her. I guess I'll never know.

It wasn't too long after that that Phoebe found out what I was. Her sisters, Prue and Piper, wanted to vanquish me, obviously, and I think a part of Phoebe did too. But she didn't. Just like I couldn't kill her, she couldn't kill me. So, instead, she let me free and told her sisters that she had vanquished me.

I know that I should have ended there, but it didn't. In the end, I realised that I couldn't live without Phoebe: I needed her in my life. So, I went to her and I told her that I'd be willing to do whatever it took to get her back.

She just kept on telling me that it was too late, that evil couldn't love, and that she couldn't trust me because there'd always be a part of me that was evil. I wasn't then sure if she was right or wrong, though I learnt later that she was right, but I knew I loved her enough to try my hardest at being good. As I told her that day, "I'm not giving up on you."

And I didn't. I kept on pursuing her and after she was injured in a ghost town, I fought my hardest to save her. I even worked with the enemy, her sister Prue, who liked me as much as I liked her. After that, I convinced Phoebe that I truly loved her and that I would try my hardest to become good, either that or she just realised that life was short and that she didn't want to live without me.

Whatever it was, after that we were together and we were in love. We were even supposed to get married, but we never did. The week before our wedding, two years after we first met, Phoebe was killed in a car accident.

Yes, a car accident of all things. It didn't seem real that one of the Charmed Ones would die just like that, with no super-natural cause. No demon did it, just fate.

But whatever the cause, losing her, the only one I'd ever love, was enough to bring back the demon I had suppressed for so long. Cole Turner died the day we buried Phoebe and that night, so did her sisters.

Yes, I killed her sisters. I still don't know why I did it, anger I guess. Maybe, I didn't think it was fair that they should live when Phoebe died. But I did it and strangely enough, got the glory I wanted in the first place.

You see, killing the last two Charmed Ones, some of the strongest witches alive even on their own, and not to mention women who had grown to love and trust me just as their sister had, had caused the demons that had branded me a traitor to welcome me back into the fold.

Still, it would have been even better in their eyes if I had destroyed all their line, but I hadn't. For even in my rage I hadn't been able to kill Melinda, Piper's baby daughter, I tried, but I kept on seeing Phoebe's face and knew that the little bit of Cole Turner that was left in me wouldn't let me kill an innocent child.

So, the Warren line continues even now through Piper and her daughter, but it doesn't concern me any more. The Charmed Ones are long gone, two dead by my hand, and the other... Lost to me forever now.

I don't know if I still love her, I don't even know if I **can** love anymore, but I know that I did love her deeply once and that I'll never feel that way about anyone else ever again.

There, now I've told you about the one time in my life that will never be forgotten, the brief time when I knew what it was to be human and what it was to love and be loved.

* * *


	2. Belthazor's Story

Belthazor's Story   
By Michelle

Disclaimer- The characters of Charmed belong to Aaron Spelling and The WB, I don't own them, but nor am I making any money off using them in this story, so please don't sue!

Author's Notes- This is a companion to "One Moment In Time", you should read that one. This one is told from the point of view of an original character, Piper's great-granddaughter as she learns the story of Belthazor's human half. It's meant to be angsty and reflective. Also, part of the idea of this came from "Look Whose Barking", but this is set before that. Anyway, that's all, enjoy!

Summery- Companion to "One Moment In Time", a decendant of the Charmed Ones reflects on Belthazor and his tragic story.

* * *

I was a teenager when I first heard the story of the Demon Belthazor. 

See, I'm a witch. One of a long line of witches, the Warren line. My great-grandmother was one of the fabled Charmed Ones. She was murdered by Belthazor.

For that reason you'd think I'd grow up thinking he was the ultimate evil. Yet, I'd always heard mixed tales of him. I mean I'd been told that he was evil, and that he was one of the strongest and most powerful demons there was.

But, my grandmother never branded him pure evil, she always held back.

It wasn't until I was fifteen that me and my sister learnt why. Prudence, my sister who was named after the eldest of the Charmed Ones, just like I was named Phoebe after the youngest, and my mother was Piper after her grandmother, and I decided to look Belthazor up in the Book of Shadows. Hoping that would tell us why my grandmother always spoke of him with a note of sadness in her voice unrelated to the death of her mother.

It did, it told us the reason why Belthazor can never be considered true evil.

I'll never forget that day. Prue and I went up to the attic and got out the book.

The pages automatically flipped open to the pages on Belthazor, they do that sometimes, we took it as a sign that it was time for us to know.

One of the pages is a drawing and a general description. But the other... It's almost a full-page of handwriting, telling Belthazor's story. It was written by my great-grandfather, the white lighter who was married to the middle sister.

I remember every word that it said:

_ Belthazor is one of the most dangerous demons there is and not much can stop him. Only the strongest of witches can stop him and even then it would be a battle.  
However, he does have one weakness. That weakness comes with his human side. Belthazor is half-human, his father was human. The human name he goes by is Cole Turner.  
When the Triad assigned him to kill the Charmed Ones, he used his human half to get close to the sisters.  
Particularly the youngest, Phoebe. He got close to her and began to date her in order to be able to kill all three of them. However, he fell in love with her and found himself unable to kill her.   
Likewise, she loved him and couldn't vanquish him even after she learnt his identity. She knew, however, that both her sisters and the other demons that he had betrayed would have no qualms about vanquishing Belthazor, so she pretended to vanquish him and in reality let him go.  
A few months later he reappeared in her life, realign that he needed her and he vowed to turn good so that he could be with her. After twice proving his intent to her, Phoebe took Cole back and they began a serious relationship.  
In time her family began to accept him and they were all honestly happy when two years of his return the two got engaged. However, only a week before the wedding, Phoebe was killed in a car accident.  
Phoebe's death brought back the demon side that Cole had suppressed for so long and he became Belthazor again, Cole Turner dying along with the woman he loved.  
Once regaining his demonic nature, Cole's first act was to kill Phoebe's sisters, the two remaining Charmed Ones.  
However, he did not kill the middle sister's infant daughter. It's possible that even though his human side was once again buried it wouldn't allow him to hurt an infant, so he let her be and went on his way.  
So, if you ever come face to face with Belthazor, remember that the only weakness he has or has ever had is Phoebe. She is the only thing he ever loved and somewhere deep down, he probably still loves her._

I was crying by the time I reached the end. I felt so sorry for him, this demon who had loved and who had then suffered great tragedy.

I finally understood why my grandmother could not brand him as pure evil. He wasn't. Not totally. Deep inside of him there was a human side, a side that had known love and then lost it. I knew that no matter how deeply he buried the human side of him that there would always be a piece of him that remembered what it had felt like to be human.

I smiled sadly as I looked at the picture at the bottom of the page. It was a snapshot of a beautiful young woman and of a handsome dark-haired man who had his arms wrapped around her. They looked so happy, so much in love, it's a shame that there story had to end the way it did.

I glanced from the drawing of Belthazor to the picture of Cole Turner, two very different sides of the same person. Demon and man. Two sides that he would always be forced to choose between.

And with that thought in mind, I closed the book.

I glanced at my sister and saw that she felt the way I did. That the tragedy of the situation got to her and that she would never see Belthazor in the same light again.

It's been many years since that day and I often find myself thinking of Belthazor and his tragic story. And when I do, I no longer think of him as Belthazor, but as Cole, the young man who loved a beautiful girl and then lost her tragically.

Now that I know the true story of the Demon Belthazor, I can no longer think of him as a demon. He is simply a man who tried to suppress his demon half, but when he lost the person who kept him fighting it, he could no longer keep up the fight.

That is Belthazor's story.

* * *


	3. Healing the Wounds

Healing the Wounds By Michelle

_Disclaimer- The characters of Charmed belong to Aaron Spelling and The WB, I don't own them, but nor am I making any money off using them in this story, so please don't sue! _

_Author's Notes- This is the last instalment in my "Between Good and Evil" trilogy and follows "One Moment In Time" and "Belthazor's Story". You should read those before reading this one. This switches back and forth between the PoV's of Cole/Belthazor and an original character of mine. Some of the ideas for this came from "The Demon Came In From The Cold" and "Charmed Again", but this is set years after "Just Harried". It's pretty angsty, sorry about that. Well, that's it, enjoy! _

_Summery- Last in the "Between Good and Evil" trilogy. Piper's great-granddaughters try and help Belthazor find peace._

_

* * *

_  
I hadn't been back in San Francisco since Phoebe's death, well over a hundred years ago.

But there I was. The Brotherhood had sent me there on assignment. I think that they wanted to make sure that I was free of whatever it was that made me want to me good. Before that day I would have told them that I was--that the human part of me had been buried with Phoebe.

I tried not to think of her that day, because I didn't any more. I wasn't that man. I knew I'd never be that man again. Then, suddenly, I saw her.

Phoebe. She was standing there in front of me, her eyes locked with mine. As soon as the shock faded, I realized that it wasn't her. But it looked like her. Similar hair, the same eyes, a similar face.

Obviously I was looking at one of Piper's decedents. Even though I knew it wasn't Phoebe, I still couldn't help but stare at her.

God, but looking at her brought back so many emotions I thought were gone forever... Emotions that I never wanted to feel again.

She was staring at me as well. But there was no fear in her gaze, no horror, just shock and curiosity.

"Belthazor." She whispered, still staring at me.

Her voice, and the fact that she recognized me even in human form, brought me out of my stupor and with last one look, I shimmered away, silently berating myself for letting something get to me.

After all these years, I had thought I was cured of any weakness. But I was wrong. The only question was what could I do about it?

* * *

I knew the instant I set eyes on him, who he was. That face has haunted me since I was fifteen and my sister Prue and I first learned his story. It wasn't his demon face that I saw. It was his human form. 

It was the face of the man that my great-great aunt had loved, the face of the man whose soul had died with her.

I wondered why he was in San Francisco and why seeing me stunned him so. I knew there was only one way to find out.

So, I went home, filled Prue in on what had happened, and headed up to the attic.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked, as I looked for the right spell.

"No." I told her honestly. "But I need to know."

"Any idea which spell to use?" Prue asked me.

"Nope." I told her, but just then the book started moving on its own. "But the book does."

I looked down at the page it had called, and then Prue and I gathered the ingredients needed, lit candles, then we said the spell out loud.

_"Hear these words, hear my cry, spirit from the other side."_ We chanted together. _"Come to me, I summon thee, cross now, the great divide."_

There was a light and then the transparent form of a young woman appeared before us. I was stunned by how much she looked like me.

"Who are you?" Prue asked.

She smiled. "Phoebe Halliwell."

Prue and I exchanged glances.

"You're one of the Charmed Ones." I said softly. "The one who loved Belthazor."

"Yes." She said quietly. "And you must be one of my sister Piper's descendants, otherwise you wouldn't have our Book of Shadows. Why did you summon me?"

"The book... It flipped to this spell." I explained. "But I understand why. Today... Today I saw Belthazor from a distance. He saw me as well and was stunned."

"I understand why." Phoebe, the other Phoebe, said softly. "I've watched him for years. His soul, his human half, is restless. It has been since..."

"Since the die you died." I finished for her. "We know the story. But how does this involve us?"

"I don't know." She told me. "But everything happens for a reason."

She was quiet for a moment. "Maybe, maybe your supposed to reach out to him. To try and help him heal. He's not truly evil."

"We know." Prue and I said together.

"But can it be done?" I continued. "It's been a long time."

"I know." She told me. "But, but I think it can be done. I think it needs to be done, if he'll ever truly find peace and I hope he does."

There was sadness in her voice and I understood why. Even though she had dead for so long, she still loved him and she grieved for the fact that his human soul was restless and had been for so long. That he was in so pain.

"We'll try to help." I promised.

"Thank you." Phoebe said, before she disappeared back into the light.

"What do we do now?" Prue asked.

"The only thing we can." I told her quietly, flipping through the book. "Summon Belthazor."

* * *

I was standing in the mausoleum, still trying to come to terms with my moment of weakness, when I felt myself being summoned. 

The only witches I ever knew who could summon me were the Charmed Ones, and though they were long gone, I was sure that the spell was still remained in their Book of Shadows. So, I wasn't surprised when I appeared in the attic of the manor, which had changed in the many years since I last been there.

Standing there were two young women, the one I had seen and one just a few years older than her, who looked like a cross between Piper and Prue.

"What do you want?" I snarled, not even bothering to revert to my Demon self.

"To help you, Belthazor, Cole." The younger one said softly. "To help you heal."

I stared at her. "Heal me? There's nothing to heal. The human side of me is dead. He has been for a long time."

"Phoebe, I told you this was a bad idea." The older one told me.

Phoebe. The name caused me to stare in shock. So, not only did she look like the woman I had once loved, she had been named after her as well. Seeing my shock, a light filled her eyes, and before I could react she flipped through the book and began to say a spell out loud.

_"Hear these words, hear my cry, spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee, cross now, the great divide."_ She called out loud.

When she finished, there was a bright light and Phoebe, my Phoebe appeared, or at least her ghost did.

"Why did you call me again?" She asked them, then she saw me. "Cole."

"We couldn't help him." The other Phoebe explained. "Only you can."

"Phoebe." I whispered, staring at her.

"Cole." She said again, softly.

As soon as I set eyes on her again, on the only woman I would ever love, it all came rushing back. All the feelings I had tried to suppress for so long. Pain, longing, sadness, and most of all love.

"Cole." She whispered. "You can't hide behind the demon forever, that's not you. You know that. Think about how hard you tried to be good, think about all the good you did those years. Why did you let it go to waste? Why did you have mean nothing?"

"Because without you didn't have a meaning." I told her. "Without you, there was no reason for me to be good. After all, why would I want to help the powers that took you away from me?"

"Oh, Cole." She whispered.

"No." I told her. "Not anymore. Cole died with you."

"No, he didn't." She corrected me. "He still lives, I can see it. No matter how deeply you've buried that side of you, a piece of it is still there. You're still the man I loved, the man who loved me."

I stared at her, not sure what to say.

"Cole, you have to grieve for me. You have to let go of the pain and the anger. You have to heal." She continued.

"It's so hard." I told her. "I don't know how."

The two other witches, moved towards the door, still watching the scene, but I barely noticed.

Phoebe stepped out of the circle then, and when she did, she became solid.

"Cry." She whispered. "Cry for me. That's the only way you'll ever heal, the only way for you to be good again."

I stared at her, then after a moment, the tears came for the first time since I learned of her death.

Phoebe put her arms around me.

I held her close, the tears stopping, as I took in her prescence.

"It's so hard." I whispered.

"I know." She told me. "But by mourning me you can let me go and when you do, you won't have to hide behind your demon form any longer."

"I don't know if I'm strong enough to be good again." I told her honestly. "Before, before I had you a motivation. What do I have now?"

"Me." She said quietly. "Death isn't forever, someday we'll find each other again. Just remember that."

She then kissed me softly and stepped back into the circle and disappearing.

I watched her go, then I turned around.

For the first time since her death some of the emptiness had vanished. I knew it would be hard, but maybe I could do it. Maybe I could be good again. For her.

Before I shimmered away, I looked at the two girls.

"Thank you." I told them, and then I was gone.

* * *

"That was interesting." Prue said dryly, when it ended. 

"Yeah, it was." I said quietly. "And more than that, I think he's at peace at last. Or at least, he's getting there."

"Yeah." Prue agreed. "He's finally accepted her death and maybe, maybe he can be good again."

"Maybe." I agreed. "But it won't be easy. Even, even if he has come to terms with her death. He'll always have to fight the demon, he'll always have to resist the dark side. He gave in to it once, whose to say he won't do it again?"

"No one." Prue told me. "But... I hope he doesn't."

"So do I." I agreed. "But it's not up to us. It's up to him. Only he can win his inner struggle. Only he can beat the demon, and, while it won't be easy, I really hope he does."

The End


End file.
